STEAM Heroes: 10 Great Minds Who Combined Arts and Sciences

Einstein raved about the benefits (and even necessity) of bringing artistic creativity into scientific discovery. Jung identified the “artist-scientist” as a human archetype. Call them polymaths, call them multi-taskers, or call just call them busy-brained, but some of the greatest thinkers have felt comfortable with one foot in the arts, and the other in sciences.

We’re inspired by those who juggle many kinds of learning, and in tribute to them, we present ten amazing STEAM thinkers, past and present (in no particular order).

This one’s almost too obvious. The same fellow who created masterpieces like “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper” was equally gifted in architecture, music, biology, and engineering. His designs for helicopters and other flying machines were hundreds of years ahead of their time.

Okay, we’re a little biased because he’s not only Canadian, and also from our hometown, but come on! The guy was the first from the Great White North to walk in space, and as tweets from his latest mission demonstrate, is also a poet and a musician.

Besides achieving sainthood, Hildegard is recognized as having written the oldest surviving morality play, along with almost seventy musical compositions, and a book about natural sciences and medicine. Oh yeah, she also invented her own alphabet.

Aristotle was so taken with biology that he wrote an entire volume on the structure of dog’s teeth, and his model of the universe was held by astronomers as the gold standard for two thousand years. He also wrote extensively on the value and purpose of art, music, and poetry.

It’s pretty impressive to be one of the founding fathers of the United States, and getting your likeness on currency doesn’t hurt either. Scientifically, Franklin had his hands in everything from oceanography to physics to meteorology. He also composed music, played three different instruments, and designed his own version of the harmonica.

The daughter of famous poet Lord Byron, Ada described herself as a “poetical scientist”. She often acknowledged the role of creativity and imagination in her work, and is credited with writing the first computer program.